


Miscalculations and Misapprehensions

by DeathlyOlympianHallow



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Fire Nation (Avatar), Firelord Zuko (Avatar), Gen, POV Third Person Limited, Post-Canon, Servants, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-12
Updated: 2021-01-12
Packaged: 2021-03-16 09:01:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28704087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeathlyOlympianHallow/pseuds/DeathlyOlympianHallow
Summary: Soon after Zuko's coronation, the servants don't know what to make of him. One of the servants Lei, is tasked with bringing the fearsome Fire Lord his tea, only to walk in on the Fire Lord threatening the Avatar. Lei is sure that she will have to tell the rest of the staff that the new Fire Lord is just as bad as the old one - maybe even worse.Or,A servant has spectacularly bad timing and thinks she's walking in on Zuko threatening Aang with Rainbow Fire.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 75





	Miscalculations and Misapprehensions

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [We Are All Doomed](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25406302) by [renegade_of_theworld](https://archiveofourown.org/users/renegade_of_theworld/pseuds/renegade_of_theworld). 



Everything in the palace was unsure, like stepping on a frozen lake in the early spring – you never know when something might break. That was how it seemed to Lei, at least. The new Fire Lord had been crowned barely a week ago. As his first act, he declared Sozin’s War to be over, but Lei knew better. After working in the palace for two years, she knew quite well that just because the Fire Lord said something, didn’t mean it was true. Fire Lord Ozai had shown that wariness was a much better policy than optimism, a lesson that certainly didn’t falter in the hours that Princess Azula had been Fire Lord. 

It was bordering on treason to even think to herself that she didn’t trust Fire Lord Zuko. She knew that if his father had known her to have such treasonous thoughts, she would have been killed on the spot. Even if the new Fire Lord hadn’t done anything to earn her mistrust yet, she knew better than to hope that he would be any better than his father. She knew all too well that Princess Azula had been just like Fire Lord Ozai when it came to her temper, and it wasn’t hard to guess that Fire Lord Zuko would be just as bad, if not worse. 

Everybody knew that the Fire Lord could redirect lightning. Since only the most powerful benders could even bend lightning, it stood to reason that the Fire Lord must be even more powerful - after all, he had redirected both Princess Azula’s and Fire Lord Ozai’s lightning.  
Princess Azula had been well known as one to avoid if at all possible as palace staff, and Fire Lord Ozai hadn’t been much better. According to the rumours from what remained of the crew of the Wani, Fire Lord Zuko’s ship from his time in exile, the new Fire Lord had an extremely short temper and was easily angered. All of the palace staff had been told to be wary of him - he hadn’t been in the palace regularly for over three years, and nobody knew what he was like anymore. Everybody knew to be wary of Fire Lord Zuko, especially these first few months. Anything could happen, and since the staff hadn’t had the chance to get the feel of Fire Lord Zuko and how he would treat his servants, they were all walking on eggshells around him. 

The first time the Fire Lord called the kitchens for tea to be served to him and the Avatar, there was an uproar. Many of the palace staff still hadn’t returned after Azula had emptied the palace of them for fear that they were trading one terrible master for another. The kitchen was packed with servants, all bustling around in preparation for the feast being held that evening. The Avatar had come to stay in the Fire Nation, and they were preparing a lavish banquet to celebrate. 

That meant that almost every servant in the palace was busy with preparations, and since they were still understaffed, barely anyone was available to bring the Fire Lord his tea. However, there were two people who weren’t too busy to bring the tea. One of them, a boy of about 12, who had just started working in the kitchens that month, to help his sick mother. The other, Lei. Since Lei didn’t normally serve tea to anybody, let alone the Fire Lord, she wasn’t exactly the first choice to serve tea to the leader of their nation and the bridge between the worlds. But Lei knew that she couldn’t let the boy face the probable wrath of the Fire Lord if even one thing was out of place, and that gave her the strength to grit her teeth and plow forwards. 

She would be one of the first servants to serve the new Fire Lord, and nobody knew quite what to expect from him. Would he be cruel, like his father? Or would he be kind, like his mother? Lei knew that she would play a vital part in helping the servants figure out the best strategy for serving the Fire Lord, as he would be their ruler for the foreseeable future. Unfortunately, knowing that she was doing her part to keep the young servants safe from the Fire Lord’s temper didn’t help her nerves, and she could hear the teacups rattling on the tray as she carried it from the kitchens to the garden where the Fire Lord and the Avatar sat waiting. 

She was about to turn the corner into the gardens when she heard the Avatar and the Fire Lord talking. She paused, hidden from their sight, to hear what they had to say.  
“I had no idea that you could take people’s bending,” a raspy voice said. She guessed that was the Fire Lord - he was said to always sound like he had a sore throat. 

“I didn’t either. It might just be an Avatar thing, though.” A high voice. A child’s voice. Oh, spirits, the Avatar was a child. “It was either that, or killing him." Did that mean-? Surely not. Surely the Avatar, a child, hadn’t been faced with the choice of either killing Fire Lord Ozai or taking his bending. That had never been heard of. She was pulled from her thoughts as she heard the Fire Lord speak again.

“Quiet, Aang. I already know.” The Avatar didn’t respond. Lei chanced a peek around the wall she was hidden behind, and what she saw chilled her to the bone. The Fire Lord’s hand was completely encased in colorful fire. It was beautiful - pinks, greens, and even blues interspersed throughout. What caused the air to freeze in her lungs, though, was the way he was holding it. His arm was bent outwards at the elbow, hand holding the flames slightly to the side, as if he was threatening the Avatar with it. 

The Avatar was looking at the flames with his mouth opened slightly in fear. The look in his eyes tore at Lei’s heartstrings - no child should be threatened by the Fire Lord, let alone one who wielded colorful fire. 

“It - it looks just like…” The Avatar trailed off. Lei didn’t need him to finish the sentence to know what he was saying - she understood it perfectly fine. With all the colors, Fire Lord Zuko’s fire looked startlingly like his sister’s. The Avatar reached out towards the Fire Lord, and Lei’s blood froze as the Avatar was shoved away from the Fire Lord. Lei could see the faint silhouettes of the Fire Lord’s guards tense, although none of them moved from their positions around the garden. 

“Tell me, Avatar, what happened the last time you tried to take my fire?” Lei could only see the burned side of the Fire Lord’s face, and it looked like he was glaring at the Avatar with a look so heated it would melt rock. The flames wreathing the Fire Lord’s hand suddenly grew in size, and she could see the Avatar rear back in shock. 

“I’ve… never had a flame like this.” The Avatar’s voice was tremulous - he sounded so scared. If this went on much longer, Lei would have to intervene - no matter the consequences to her. She couldn’t sit by and watch a child get hurt. No matter if the one scaring him was the Fire Lord - and wasn’t that a thought. The new Fire Lord was so powerful, even the Avatar was scared of him. That certainly didn’t bode well for the servants of his palace. 

The Fire Lord’s mouth twisted, the scar, facing her, contorting as he smiled a cruel, sadistic smile at the Avatar. “Put your hands on my fire, and I’ll go straight to the masters and make sure that you have enough fire for the rest of your life.”

Oh no. The Fire Lord was threatening the Avatar, and it sounded far from an empty threat. The Fire Lord was so powerful that he could threaten the Avatar, the master of all four elements, and come out unscathed. She would have to make sure that the staff knew that the Fire Lord was to be avoided at all costs. But first, the Avatar. She had to do something. Master of all four elements or not, he was a child, and he was in danger. 

With that, Lei gathered her courage, made sure that everything was arranged properly on her tray, and walked fully into the garden. 

As she came around to the unblemished side of the Fire Lord, he quickly got rid of the flames wreathing his hand with a quick snap of the wrist. He must not have wanted anyone to see him threatening the Avatar - after all, that couldn’t be good for his insistence that the war was over for good.

Lei set the tea down between the Avatar and the Fire Lord, and bowed deeply. “Your tea, sire.” 

“Thank you,” The Fire Lord said. He sounded oddly calm and nice, given that he had been threatening the Fire Lord not five seconds ago. She bent at the hips just a little bit deeper, all the while wondering what her punishment would be for interrupting the Fire Lord. “You may go.” 

She didn’t need to be told twice. As quickly as was polite, she backed out of the gardens and back into the hallway inside the palace. She felt a brief stab of guilt at leaving the Avatar to fend for himself, but she figured that the interruption and the tea would calm the Fire Lord down enough that the Avatar would be alright. 

On her way back to the kitchens, she thought about what she was going to tell the rest of the palace staff. Look out, everybody - it looks like Fire Lord Zuko was going to be worse than Fire Lord Ozai and Princess Azula combined. Even they had not the power nor the courage to openly threaten the Avatar with flames right to his face, and with colorful fire nonetheless. Lei was glad that she had taken the Fire Lord his tea, and she shuddered to think of what could have happened to the boy from the kitchens.

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by We Are All Doomed by renegade_of_theworld. It's one of my favorite works in the fandom, and I'm glad that the original author put pen to paper, which led to the basic premise of this work. I'm hoping to update this once every two weeks or so, and there should only be 2-4 chapters.


End file.
